Wandering ‘Shaman’ Claims Responsibility for NC Bigfoot Sightings

For some reason, the Carolinas have become a hotspot of cryptid weirdness in recent weeks. It all started when a Bigfoot investigation group calling themselves “Bigfoot 911” reported a sighting in McDowell County, North Carolina which went viral enough for the South Carolina police to remind citizens not to shoot at any man-shaped creatures they might come across in the woods. Not to be outdone, El Chupacabra then popped up on a South Carolina golf course, after which South Carolina police issued another warning, this time about lizardmen during the oncoming eclipse. It seems Bigfoot brings out the crazies and cryptids in droves.

Bigfoot? Wandering shaman? Or just lonely fame seeker?

And that’s when this one gets a little weird. I mean, any Bigfoot sighting has the potential to be pretty weird on its own, but the alleged culprit behind the sighting just took this story into much stranger territory. It turns out Minnesota resident Gawain MacGregor claims he was behind the sightings in Western North Carolina, reporting that he as wandering around the woods covered in animal fur during the time the sightings took place. MacGregor says he does this regularly, recreating the creation of Enkidu from The Epic of Gilgamesh every year by donning a fur suit and trudging around in the woods. Oh, don’t worry, it gets even weirder.

MacGregor in his “ritual garments.”

MacGregor claims to be a follower of Enkiduism, a religion based on the worship of Enkidu. Not surprisingly, MacGregor runs the official Enkiduism website which has no doubt seen a huge boost in clicks this week. The website even features a recipe for gingerbread Green Men, which MacGregor claims must be consumed as part of his “religion:”

As an Enkiduist, I consume an effigy of a Enkidu to strengthen my spiritual connection with nature. This symbolic consumption also brings me closer to his martyrdom, the sacrifice that brought Gilgamesh’s, and now my, humanity into balance.

Sure buddy. Keep sewing those fur suits and baking those gingerbread men. It’ll catch on. Christianity did, and it’s full of ritualsmuch weirder than animal men and cookies.